Skamania County Community Action Team

The Community Action Team was born out of the 1992 Farm Bill and the Northwest economic adjustment initiative (NWEAI).  The Northwest was affected substantially by the downturn in the Timber Industry in the early 1990’s.  The initiative was designed to aid rural areas heavily dependent on timber.  Within the initiative, community revitalization teams were created to coordinate efforts to apply for and receive federal funds ear-marked for the region.  The Farm Bill mandated that communities develop community strategic plans in order to be eligible for the federal funds that were made available.  The intent was to encourage communities to work together to create a list of priorities with regard to economic development.

Within Washington State, the Department of Community Trade and Economic Development created the Washington Community Economic Revitalization Team (WA- CERT ) to aid individual community action teams by streamlining their funding application processes. 

The Skamania County Community Action Team has been successful, and has continued to meet and operate even though WA- CERT is now defunct, along with many of the other teams in the state.  The team created- and revises every quarter- a Work Plan of the Community Strategic Plan.  It is primarily made up of public infrastructure type projects, though anyone looking for funding for a project- public or private- is welcome to attend the meeting and request that their project be added to the list.  The Work Plan is to serve as a guideline for development efforts by Skamania County .  After the plan is revised each quarter, it is given to the Commissioners for the County who pass a Resolution accepting and endorsing the plan. 

The Work Plan exhibits to agencies offering funding the priority level projects have in the eyes of the community.  The higher the priority, the better chance the project has of receiving funding.  Originally, this was only a federal mandate, but now, agencies at all levels prefer to see a project on a community’s Work Plan- though it is not always required.